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Harbor Freight dirt bike trailer complete!

2K views 7 replies 5 participants last post by  pidjones 
#1 ·
My HF bike trailer is done and had it's maiden voyage of about 25 miles straight down the highway yesterday to meet a couple buddies for a ride in the hills. Other than being a little heavier than I'm used to, it towed and tracked just fine. I ran it 70 to 80 mph down the highway and took it pretty easy. I'll need to hit a bumpier road with a few more turns to know for sure what tweaks I'll need to make. My ball hitch can be lowered about 1.5" by flipping it over, the wheel chock can be moved forward or backwards, I have a set of 8" wheels that I could swap out. Anyway, some of the things we did were move the springs to the underside of the axle, and because of that the fenders needed raised a little, welded all of the corners for stability, 3/4" plywood deck with a deck liner paint, and an aluminum angle on the back end. All in all I'm pretty happy with the set up.








 
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#3 ·
Looks good. I hope the Harbor Freight I'm working on comes out as successful.


So you needed to raise the fenders when moving the axle. Interesting, as I was going to do that also (move the axle) so the deck wouldn't be so high.


Do you have room on the deck to carry an extra gas can for those long riding days?


Allen
 
#4 ·
@roadrunner1800,
By moving the springs to the underside of the axle it brought the tire pretty close to rubbing the fender. 1/2" or less clearance, so to be safe we raised it. There is also plenty of room on the deck for gas, gear bag, etc... If needed. I'm not sure I am tough enough to need gas on the trail. I fill up to start and get 50 to 70 miles to a tank. That many miles in the woods would be past my abilities! LOL. 30 to 40 miles is a good day of hard riding, when on trails.
 
#5 ·
How is braking with it loaded? I have one still in the boxes that I'm thinking of building to haul an old '77 'Wing (if I ever get back to it and finish it). Would be extra-cool to haul it behind the '06.

Sent from my Le Pan TC802A using Tapatalk
 
#6 ·
@pidjones,
I don't know what the bike you have weighs, but my bike is 260 to 270, plus the trailer weight of 150 or so, add the plywood, wheel chock and I'm guessing I'm at around 450lbs total weight. Definitely lose braking distance, and I'm not sure how much push I'll get in the event of an emergency stop. I am at the limit of how much weight I am willing to pull and will be riding like an old man on a Sunday smell the roses ride. A lot of added risk. I also noticed on the way home the other day that the dirt bike catches the wind and effects the handling if the wing enough to get my attention. I'm still feeling it all out and time will tell.
 
#8 ·
I know this is an old thread, but it kind of fits what I did to haul my '78 GL1000 to shows.

Originally, it was intended to pull behind the GL1800, but after more consideration I reasoned that I couldn't really carry a lot more on the 1800 than I could if I just rode the 1000, which I do for some shows. So, it gets pulled with the pickup so the wife or daughter can come and we take the pit stand, chairs, cooler, pop-up canopy, etc.

Built from the HF 40x48 with HF steel loading ramp upside-down for rail and loading. Cut a bit off the second ramp for making a stop at the front and added the simple tubing chock to help support. Also added 5/4 treated decking boards on both sides plus another pair hinged on back. I've seen too many Youtube videos of people dumping bikes while trying to load with no place for their feet to steady the bike. Also, the left board allows me to put the side stand down and get on/off with no straps (the chock isn't narrow enough to hold it). This way, I can load/unload by myself. I ride on and off. The ramp is taken off of the storage on the right side boards and has two bolts that drop into the rear slots on the rail to keep it from moving while in use (one photo shiws a strap for that before I added the bolts). The trailer axle is mounted on top of the springs instead of below, and the tounge is mounted forward one hole (~8" as I remember) in the frame. I walked the bike onto the ramp laying across a pipe on concrete to find the balance point. Then mounted everything so it rides ~10" forward of that. I haven't weighed the tongue with the bike loaded yet, but can pick it up and back the whole rig into the garage by myself if I get a run at the 1" floor offset into the garage. It is shown in one picture in the garage ready to roll out the next morning for a 6 am start to a show.

I use both fore and aft straps (spring lines for us Navy-types) to hold it upright, plus one strap straight down from the front lower triple. I do not pull the forks down more than ~1/2", so the suspension can work if needed. Soft loops are used for all bike connections)

There is some vibration felt while pulling that may be tire balance. Adding 1/2 ounce balance beads helped, so I'll add 1/2 ounce more soon.

HF sent me new LED lighting on a recall, and they work very well. I pull it with a 2001 S-10 4.3l 4x4 crew cab. After pulling it with that, I don't think I'll attempt it with the GL1800, pkus the 'wing is now set up to pull a Unigo. We took it to Chattanooga via I-75 (~100 miles one-way) a few werks ago and it did fine.

 
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